Please close this thread

"@Simtanium;c-17612477" wrote:
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 You're entitled to voice your opinion but I think you're missing my point entirely. I personally wouldn't have been offended or upset if EA decided to never include any same-sex couples in the game at all. Like you say, I can create my own (and I actually usually play straight couples as I enjoy playing with genetics and creating families). However, when EA decided to start marketing this game as a way to "represent yourself" and became very vocal about its LGBT+ inclusion they opened themselves up tor this criticism. I am never one of those people who would say a straight person couldn't have a viewpoint on gay topics, but it likely is difficult to comprehend unless you have experienced it yourself. The portrayal of gay men in media is extremely monolithic and stereotypical, and actually quite insulting. Gay characters are usually shown as catty, comedic and promiscuous; and are never shown in a loving relationship or raising a family. Lesbian couples are much easier to include as they (often) appeal to straight male viewers and are more socially acceptable. It is very common to see lesbian couples shown raising a child. While this sort of thing is something I have come to expect from most other forms of media that claim to be "woke" but only push these issues in socially-acceptable ways, given the Sims franchises' history of being (dare I say) brave for including homosexual relationships when it ships all over the world, I expected better from them.

I agree that EA opened themselves up for criticism by bragging around about any kind of inclusion.
In the meantime members of the trance community don’t feel like they’re being represented correctly, those who identify as non binary are not happy because of the lack of options in CAS, some ethnic groups feel there’s too much missing for them, gay couples are not shown the same respect as female couples and the list goes on and on. The game is under so much pressure right now because everybody wants to be represented exactly the way that suits them, otherwise “racism here” or “discrimination there.”

And in the meantime where the hell are the werewolves? Because let’s not forget it’s a game.

Perhaps EA should stop marketing The Sims 4 as an all inclusive game and just give us some more advanced tools. Social representation in TS4 is already way ahead of any other game. Give people more options so they can create whatever and whoever they want.

As for why female couples with kids have more representation in game than their male counterparts: Is it not more common for two women to have a child? Indeed, females are portrayed as nurturing since they are the ones that carry a child for 9 months.

But then again, apparently a male sim can breastfeed his alien baby...

I‘m not familiar with custodian law in other countries, but where I live, a man doesn’t even have any legal rights to his own child if he’s not married. The mother is always in a superior position. If she decides to put the child up for adoption, the father doesn’t automatically get custody. He will have to apply and go through the adoption process just like any other person. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who the father of the child is, even if he’s been looking after his own kid for years. Legally, it’s not his.
I can only I imagine how difficult it must be for two men to adopt a kid.
Whatever the reasons are for leaving out certain aspects in game, I still don’t think they’re intentional. I believe there is at least one male dev married to another man and both have a little kid.

Yes Im straight and half Caucasian and I can’t possibly understand how gay men or anybody else feels about the lack of inclusion. I don’t have that experience. So perhaps I shouldn’t participate in this discussion.

However I still believe that, rather than working on this apparent lack of representation in premade households, it’s more important for the sims team to work on the lack of CAS and gameplay options.